Heavy Rain
by Ailodierap
Summary: How far would you go to save someone you love?
1. The Beginning

**Hey guys. I'm not going to say much here. This story does not belong to me. It's based on an already-existing story (not FanFiction, it's a story from a different type of media) and I'm sure at least one person reading this recognizes it. If you do recognize it, for the sake of the people who don't recognize it, please don't add spoilers about the story in your reviews. Anyone who doesn't recognize it: look it up if you want, but you'll be spoiling the story for yourselves.**

**To the people who have never experienced this story before: the first chapter or two are a bit slow, but stick with it. It'll be worth your time. I promise you that.**

**Disclaimer: I do not own ANYTHING.**

* * *

**Friday, April 17, 2009**

**11:22 am**

* * *

Robbie Shapiro could easily just lay in bed all day long, dreaming away. But today, he had a special reason to get up. Pulling himself up out of bed, Robbie let out a massive yawn before stepping down onto the clean, wooden floor of the bedroom and making his way to the door. He didn't notice the note until he had stepped on it and almost slipped over.

_Gone shopping._

_I'll pick up the kids from school at lunchtime and then I'll come home to get things ready for Jason's birthday party. I'm so excited!_

_Don't work too hard! I love you! _

_Cat_

Placing the note on the equally clean, wooden shelf jutting out from the wall next to him, Robbie pulled the door open and stepped out into his colourful, modern household.

The first thing Robbie heard as he opened his bedroom door was the chirping of the household budgie, Merlin. Normally, Robbie would get quite irritated at the noise but today he was in such a great mood that he simply didn't care.

_I better take a shower._

Still half-asleep, Robbie travelled from the bedroom to the bathroom. Quickly stripping off his boxers, the man began to shower. The pure, hot water streaming down over his body cleansed Robbie's mind and body, waking him up completely. After stepping out of the shower and changing into a new pair of underwear, Robbie headed back to the bedroom and swung his closet doors open.

Robbie chose to wear his normal, comfortable attire: a blue button-up shirt and a cozy pair of dark blue jeans. After changing, Robbie exited his bedroom again and headed downstairs.

His house was very modernised. The simple wood and metal combination added a very slick, smooth touch to the house, whilst the red and white walls stood out and added character to the area. The large front wall to the house was composed of entirely glass panes, effectively letting the beautiful, sunny Spring morning inside.

_I've got a couple of hours before Cat and the kids get back, so I might as well get some work done._

Robbie peacefully made his way to his study. Inside the room was a room entirely covered in blueprints for different structures and houses. The main desk was covered by one massive drawing board and Robbie's work stationary: a pencil, two pens and an eraser.

And that was basically what Robbie's next two hours consisted of: sketching the plans for his client's new house. Just another day in the life. But I don't want to bore you all with that, so we'll skip ahead a couple of hours.

Robbie heard the sound of the car door outside the house, and sure enough within seconds his two sons ran inside, immediately hugging him.

"Take it easy kids, you're gonna knock me over!" Robbie laughed, prying his sons off of him. Placing his hand on one of the older son's shoulder, he continued to speak. "So, today's your big day, huh?"

"Yeah, I'm ten years old now!" the boy replied enthusiastically. "Can I drive your car now?"

"Umm, well I think you're gonna have to wait a little while longer for that, Jason." Robbie told him, chuckling.

"Robbie, could I get a little help?" an all-too-familiar voice rang in his ears.

Motioning the kids to go play, Robbie turned to face his lover and wife, Cat. Her long, bright red hair that he had fallen in love with shining brighter than the midday sunlight.

Cat was struggling with three large grocery bags. Taking two of them out of her hands, Robbie walked them over to the kitchen counter and dumped them down. Cat put her bag down next to the other two and immediately started pulling a bunch of groceries out and putting them away in the various compartments and the fridge.

"Jason and Shaun have been so excited all day. I could barely keep them in line at the supermarket!" Cat giggled whilst still sorting out the groceries. "Did you get any work done?"

"Uhh, yeah, I made pretty good progress. I think the plans should be finished by Monday." Robbie told her.

"Good. Hey, could you please help me set the table? There are plates just over there." Cat motioned with her head towards a set of plates resting atop the living room drawers.

"Yeah, sure." Robbie agreed, heading over to said plates and swiftly laying them in front of the four seats at the table.

"Thanks, Robbie."

"Need anymore help?" Robbie asked, desperate to help his wife. Instead, she shook her head.

"Naah, I should be fine now. Thanks anyway!" Cat answered happily.

Smiling, Robbie made his way across the living room to the kitchen area, where Cat stood facing away from him, preparing dinner. Standing right behind Cat, he gently placed his hands on her hips, evoking a quiet giggle from her.

"Robbie…" Cat whispered flirtatiously as she slowly turned around to face her husband.

"I don't know if I've told you, but I find you very attractive today, Mrs. Shapiro." Robbie murmured in her ear. Cat smiled, looking Robbie in the eyes.

"I know what's on your mind, Robbie… but now's not the time, I've gotta get ready for Jason's party. Let's continue this conversation later, okay?" Cat reasoned with Robbie, who reluctantly nodded.

Robbie released Cat from his embrace and, searching for something to do, noticed Jason and Shaun playing with their toy swords in the garden. With nothing else to do, Robbie wandered over to the patio doors, which had been left open. He stepped outside.

Their garden was very spacious. The fences had been covered by huge garden hedges giving the garden a much more natural feel. A children's play area sat in the middle of the garden, shaded by the neighbour's huge tree.

"That's it, I'm now free as a bird!" he told his sons, who dropped their toy swords and ran up to him enthusiastically. "Who wants to go first?"

Jason and Shaun jumped up and down enthusiastically, chanting "Me first! Me first!".

"Easy kids, you can both have a turn. Jason, since you're the birthday boy, you can go first." Robbie said laughing. "Let's do the 'helicopter'!"

Giggling away, Jason grabbed his dad's arms, and Robbie grabbed him back. Robbie began spinning around, the momentum he was creating quickly lifting Jason off the ground. Shaun had to step back a few feet to make sure he didn't get his big brother's shoe in his face as Robbie continued to swing Jason around above the ground for about ten seconds. By the time Robbie finally came to a gentle stop and Jason's feet touched the ground again, he was so dizzy that he couldn't even stand up, and so had to sit down on the fuzzy, green grass as Shaun ran over to Robbie.

"It's my turn now! It's my turn!" the eight-year old boy yelled enthusiastically, turning around.

Robbie leant down and grabbed Shaun, placing him on his shoulders.

"Okay Shaun, hold on, here we go!" Robbie said playfully as he began to run around the garden.

Shaun spread his arms out as though they were the wings of a plane. As Robbie continued to circle their garden, Shaun literally felt like he was walking on air, like he was on top of the world. Shaun cried out happily as Jason watched, still trying to regain his balance.

After a few more seconds of running around, Robbie came to a stop and placed Shaun down next to Jason. Jason, having regained his balance, ran over to where their two toy swords lay on the grass. Picking them up, Jason quickly tossed one to Robbie.

Robbie, letting his inner Galaxy Wars nerd side come out, swung and twirled the sword in place, taunting his son. Jason mimicked Robbie's actions to the best of his abilities.

"This time you're done for! You're gonna pay for all your crimes, evil one!" Jason stated in a tone of voice you'd hear from Anakin Skywalker.

"Haha!" Robbie laughed, having more fun with this than a man his age probably should. "Surrender, weakling! Say your prayers."

Hesitating, to give Jason a chance to react, Robbie swung the sword at his left shoulder. Jason playfully threw himself back as though he were in pain.

"Come on, Jason!" Shaun encouraged his brother.

Jason took a swing at Robbie's stomach. Direct hit.

"Ohhh, that's nothing." Robbie taunted, clutching his stomach.

"Jason! Jason! Jason!" Shaun chanted from the side.

Robbie lunged at Jason's ankles, but Jason jumped in place, dodging the strike.

"Yeah! Go Jason!" Shaun continued to cheer.

Robbie and Jason stared each other down for a tense minute or two, before Jason sprung into action. Swinging his sword three times at his father, Jason was unable to make a successful hit as Robbie blocked all of his attempts.

In one final attempt to beat Robbie, Jason swung at Robbie's sword and the two found themselves in a test of strength as neither was prepared to move.

_This is the coolest thing ever!_

It took all of Robbie's willpower to hold back his strength so he could give Jason a chance to beat him. As Robbie could see that Jason was still struggling even though Robbie was holding back, he decided to swing with all his strength. Jason threw himself back, and was unable to defend himself as Robbie made one final swing at Jason's shoulder, quickly motioning as though he had just chopped Jason's head off.

"Uggghhh… my life… has come to an end." Jason said as he playfully fell down.

As Shaun and Robbie were high-fiving, they could suddenly hear Cat's amused giggling from inside the house.

"Food's ready, kids! You've gotta come and eat cause your friends are gonna be here soon!" Cat called to them.

Jason jumped to his feet and ran inside, behind his younger brother. Robbie placed the toy sword at his feet before heading inside himself.

Robbie quickly noticed that Shaun was not at the table, and Cat had already noticed the same thing.

"Shaun? Lunch is ready!" Cat called out. No answer.

"I'll go find him." Robbie volunteered himself, heading upstairs as Jason sneakily began eating his food.

It didn't take Robbie long to find Shaun. As he reached the top of the stairs and looked to his right, he could see Shaun on his knees outside Robbie's bedroom door. As Robbie crouched down beside him, he could hear his son softly crying.

"Shaun?" Robbie asked, placing a comforting arm around him. "What's up?"

Between his sniffing and sobbing, Shaun managed to let out two single sentences.

"It's Merlin… he's dead." Shaun murmured, before sobbing some more and moving to the side, showing Robbie the poor budgie coldly laid on the wooden floor. "He's dead and it's all my fault."

Not wanting to question what Shaun could have possibly done to cause this, Robbie immediately began to comfort his child.

"No it's not, Shaun, of course it's not your fault."

After an emotional pause, Shaun spoke up once more.

"I'd do anything if he could come back to life." the innocent young boy stated, before pressing his face against his father's chest and crying into it. Robbie tried to comfort Shaun by rubbing the back of his head.

"You know Shaun… there are some things which just have to happen," Robbie told him, being careful not to trip over his words, "even if you don't want them to."

Though his voice was muffled since he was hiding his face in Robbie's chest, Shaun spoke again.

"It's not fair, dad… it's not fair." Shaun said, and at that, he burst out in tears.

"I know, Shaun… I know."

* * *

**Sunday, May 31, 2009**

**12:38 pm**

The last remnants of Spring sunshine shone down as the Shapiro family walked down the crowded street. Robbie's blue sweater contrasting against Cat's pink tanktop. The two were trying to hold hands while keeping an eye on Jason and Shaun, who were playing around as always. The two were running all over the place, past other people, between Cat and Robbie, and all the two flustered parents could do was laugh at the antics of their children as they ran around, giggling contagiously.

* * *

**1:15 pm**

Jason grabbed Cat's hand at the two walked through the mall, just behind Shaun and Robbie, who were walking a bit of a way in front. Robbie could still hear the contagious giggling even in such a crowded place.

Robbie grabbed Shaun and pulled him up onto his shoulders as Shaun liked him to do. As Robbie began quickening his pace, Cat spoke up.

"Oh wait, I just wanna have a look at some shoes for Shaun! Can you watch Jason for a minute?" Cat asked, carefully grabbing Shaun off of Robbie's shoulders. "I promise we won't be long."

"Sure, no problem." Robbie answered, putting his arm around his elder son. "We're not going anywhere, are we, Jason?" Robbie asked his son, poking him in the ribs. Jason playfully poked Robbie back.

After a few minutes of waiting, Jason started to pace the floor impatiently. At that moment, Robbie heard some kind of commotion from the lower floor. Glancing over the rails to see what was going on, he took his eyes off of Jason for a second. Upon finding nothing of particular interest, Robbie looked back up.

Jason was no longer standing next to him.

_Oh god, where'd he go?_

Assuring himself that Jason couldn't have gone far, Robbie walked back the way they had come in search for his son. It wasn't a very lengthy search; Robbie found Jason just around the corner, sheepishly glancing at a clown who was selling balloons. Robbie powerwalked over to Jason.

"Jason, you really shouldn't wonder off like that. There's an awful lot of people in here." Robbie told his son.

"Dad, can I have one?" Jason asked, cutting off Robbie's lecture. "Please dad, I really want one!"

Letting out a sigh, Robbie nodded his head. "Okay, let's go buy one, I guess."

"Yay! Thanks dad!" Jason thanked him, happily.

Jason ran over to the clown, whose verging-on-creepy facepaint was only matched by his ridiculous outfit that made him look like Ronald McDonald.

"Hey there, champ!" the clown greeted him. "What's your name?"

"Jason!"

"Which balloon would you like, Jason?"

"Umm…" Jason trailed off as he considered his options. "The red one!" he answered joyfully, jumping up and down as he pointed at the lone red balloon amongst all the others of various different colours.

The clown pushed the other balloons aside and pulled out the red balloon, handing it to Jason. "Here you go!"

Jason squealed in delight as the clown turned his attention to Robbie.

"That'll be two dollars, sir." the clown told him.

_Hmph, two dollars just for a damn balloon…_

Robbie noticed that Jason had already began to wonder off again.

"Jason, wait for me! Wait for your dad, son!" he quickly told him. "It's really crowded in here!"

Jason continued to walk off regardless, making Robbie wonder what the heck had gotten into him whilst he searched for his money.

His front left pocket was empty. Looking back, Robbie could still make out the red balloon that was slowly floating away.

Beginning to panic, Robbie checked his front right pocket. Still nothing. The red balloon was just a dot in the crowd now.

Letting out a frustrated sigh, Robbie checked his back left pocket. An instant wave of relief washed over him when he felt a five dollar bill in his pocket. Instantly, Robbie almost threw the money into the clown's hand.

"Keep the change." Robbie said as he immediately turned around to find Jason. The red balloon was no longer in sight.

Just as Robbie was about to run after Jason, he heard an all-too-familiar sigh from behind him.

"It is impossible to try on a pair of shoes with this crowd!" Cat complained, before letting out a small giggle. Quickly realizing something was wrong, she asked the question that was currently plaguing Robbie's mind. "Where's Jason?"

Stuttering in panic, Robbie responded. "I-I don't know, he was here a second ago! I bought him a-a balloon and when I turned around he'd just disappeared!"

Fear instantly took over Cat's whole body. "Disappeared? What do you mean disappeared?"

Sensing her panicking, Robbie tried to calm her down.

"O-okay, just stay here, I'll go find him." Robbie said, before running off in the direction the red balloon went. After a few seconds of running, Robbie decided to glance over the rails again. Doing this, it didn't take him long to spot the red balloon in the huge crowd.

Robbie ran down the escalator, nudging several other shoppers out of the way in his hurry to find his son. Robbie was beginning to run out of breath as he stopped to take account of Jason's location. It took him a few good searches to finally spot a red balloon.

As Robbie barged through the crowd towards the balloon, he became increasingly convinced that everyone in the crowd was closing in on him; was trying to stop Robbie from finding Jason. His space got smaller and smaller as he continued pushing his way through all the people in his panic.

After a couple of strenuous seconds of almost ramming people out of the way, Robbie reached the balloon.

"Jason!" Robbie said in relief, turning the boy around to face him, "God, you really had me scared th-"

It wasn't Jason.

Shock and horror took over Robbie as he rose to his feet, realising that he had pursued the wrong balloon. Practically in a frenzy now, Robbie observed the entire room. So many people. The crowd was closing in on him.

_Come on, red balloon, red balloon…_

Robbie's eyes lit up when he finally noticed the red balloon on the other side of the room.

"Jason!" Robbie screamed, shoving his way through the infinitely-increasing crowd. Robbie found himself unable to do anything else other than calling his name. "JASON!"

It wasn't until Robbie was outside of the mall that he realized, to his terror, that the red balloon was on the other side of the busy street.

"Shit… shit!" Robbie cursed, staring directly at Jason from across the road. "JASOOOONNNN!" he screamed to his son.

Jason at last heard his father's desperate screams and turned around, noticing his father on the other side of the street.

"Dad!" he called back, his grip on the red balloon loosening slightly. Jason started to run across the street, to Robbie's relief.

Then Robbie noticed the car.

"Jason! NOOOO!" Robbie screamed, running out towards his son.

Maybe the driver was speeding. Maybe she was on the phone while driving. Maybe anything had happened that distracted the driver from driving safely for a split-second.

All she knew was that in that split-second, she had destroyed someone's life forever. The car hadn't even stopped by the time the woman heard the loud thud and knew what she had done.

"JASOOOOONNN!" Cat screamed in horror, running towards her son and husband, both of whom were lying lifelessly by the side of the road.

The crowd had gathered around to see the destruction they had basically caused as Cat continued to sob uncontrollably over her two loved ones.

"Jason… oh my god, no… Jason…" Cat cried in tragic despair. In that moment, she knew that nothing would ever be the same for her again. The happiness that had seemed fixated upon her beautiful face was wrecked by the tears of sadness for her son and husband. Cat was broken, just as broken as Robbie and Jason.

Shaun could only watch the red balloon as it ascended through the clouds and into the skies above.


	2. The Detective

**Don't point out how fast the afternoon passes in this chapter. I needed to keep the story going at a good pace. :3 **

**And again, the start of this story is pretty slow… just stick with it, it'll pick up very soon.**

**Shoutout to Nikki for the 's'. Yeah, don't ask.**

**And yes, I did change a certain character's last name. Try not to question it. :)**

**Disclaimer: I do not own anything.**

* * *

**Two Years Later**

The rain poured down from the grey, miserable sky as Robbie Shapiro stood out in the dim, cold afternoon, waiting for his son, Shaun. The bags under Robbie's eyes were unavoidable, as was the beard that had emerged from a lack of shaving for several days. Robbie's brown jacket and black hoodie were getting soaked through as the man stood there almost purposelessly.

As all the other parents left to walk or drive their children home, sheltered from the downpour by their umbrellas or car roofs, Shaun exited the school building alone, clutching his backpack tightly as he walked towards Robbie's car. The ten-year old boy didn't even give his father a moment's glance as he lifelessly made his way towards the dirty car, faded in colour.

"Hi Shaun." Robbie greeted his son almost as lifelessly as the boy moved.

"Hi Dad." Shaun monotonously replied as he continued towards the car, still not even giving his father a double take.

Robbie sighed as he watched the boy get in the car and throw his bag aside to put on his seatbelt.

_I'm late again… I know he doesn't like being the last one left at school._

With extra guilt now heavy on his mind, Robbie got in the car himself and drove away. For a couple of minutes, the drive was just silent, until Robbie glanced at Shaun through the mirror. Shaun was looking up at the dull sky. The life in his eyes had faded away to the point where Shaun just seemed to be a shell of his former self.

"So… how was school?" Robbie asked, in an effort to break the silence.

"Fine." Shaun bluntly answered.

_Seems like he doesn't really wanna talk._

And for the rest of the drive home, neither of the two said another word. They just listened to the sky's music of the rain falling down onto the roof of the car.

Shaun had already unbuckled his seatbelt and grabbed his bag by the time Robbie had pulled up outside Robbie's house. The second the car had stopped moving, Shaun had pushed the door open and was halfway to the front door. Robbie slowly followed the boy after locking the car.

As Shaun impatiently paced the floor in front of the door, Robbie lazily placed the key in the door and turned. Shaun was straight through the door into the old, slightly-decaying house. The dark wooden floor of the living room supported the single yellow couch placed haphazardly in the centre of the room, facing towards the TV, which was mounted on a dark wood stand.

Shaun hurriedly walked over to the TV and turned it on, changing the channel to his favourite cartoon and collapsing onto the couch. Robbie averted his eyesight to the schedule on the board in the kitchen.

_SHAUN_

_4:30 Snack_

_6:00 Homework_

_7:00 Dinner_

_8:00 Bed_

The kitchen was very bland. The blue and brown tile pattern failed to compliment the insipid pale wooden counters and the light blue, chipped and damaged dining table with no more than two wooden chairs plonked on either side.

After examining the schedule, Robbie walked back into the living room and checked the clock.

_4:45_

Quickly realizing that Shaun's snack was 15 minutes overdue, Robbie walked over to the boy, who was absorbed by the cartoon on the TV.

"It's time for your snack… are you hungry?" Robbie asked awkwardly.

"I guess, a little." Shaun answered, not moving his eyes from the television screen.

"Well then, let's see what we can find in the kitchen." Robbie said as he travelled back into the kitchen.

Surprisingly unsure of where everything was, Robbie opened the closest cupboard to him. He uncertainly grabbed a bag of potato chips and shut the cupboard before approaching Shaun again.

"Here you go, Shaun. Here's your snack."

"Thanks Dad." Shaun quietly thanked him, grabbing the bag from his hands and tearing it open.

Unsure of what to do at that point, Robbie wandered off into the hallway, picking up the pile of mail that he had grabbed from the mailbox before coming inside.

One magazine.

Two magazines.

An envelope.

_Robbie Shapiro_

_267 Reservoir Street_

Robbie threw the rest of the mail back onto the counter before he hesitantly tore the envelope open. Inside was nothing but a small, folded piece of paper. Robbie quickly unfolded the paper and began to read the text printed onto it.

_When the parents came home from church, all their children were gone._

_They searched and called for them, they cried and begged, but it was all to no avail._

_The children have never been seen again._

Unsure of what to think, Robbie threw the letter and envelope down on the pile of other mail.

Paranoia kicked in for a brief moment, and Robbie peered into the living room, quickly detecting the back of Shaun's head as he continued watching his cartoon.

Robbie still had a bit of time before Shaun was scheduled to do his homework, so he grabbed his copy of The American Tribune, the newspaper which lay off to the side on the counter.

The main headline grabbed Robbie's attention just as it did the previous six or seven times he had already seen it before in the newspaper.

_The Origami Killer strikes again._

_Seventh victim identified: The police have confirmed that the modus operandi is indeed that of the Origami Killer._

Not wanting to read anymore of the undoubtedly horrible story, Robbie dropped the newspaper back down onto the counter. But the picture of the victim continued to plague his mind for several minutes. The only thing the confused man could think was:

_I've seen that face before._

In an effort not to think about it, Robbie checked the clock again.

_5:30_

_Hmm… Shaun hasn't done his homework yet, but it's not 6 o'clock yet either._

"Shaun!" Robbie began, grabbing Shaun's attention for a split-second. "Do you wanna do your homework now?"

"Please, Dad, let me watch TV a little while longer! We'll do it later, okay?" Shaun pleaded.

"Alright, we'll do it later. W-what do you say we play together for a little while?" he suggested, hoping Shaun didn't detect the stutter.

"I'd rather watch TV." Shaun told him, not averting his eyes from the screen.

"Okay… do you wanna talk a little?"

"Talk about what?"

"I don't know… about you, your friends… how things are going?"

"Nothing special." Shaun murmured.

"And… how are things at school? Is your teacher nice?"

"Everything's fine, Dad." Shaun answered, irritation beginning to present itself in his tone.

Finally giving up, Robbie glanced at the clock again.

_5:45_

Desperately thinking of something else to do, Robbie went to the bathroom. Shaun stared intensely at the closed bathroom door, swiftly turning back to the television as soon as the door opened.

Robbie checked the clock again.

_5:55_

_Close enough._

"Shaun, it's time to do that homework now." Robbie told his son.

"Please, Dad, I wanna watch some more TV." Shaun tried to plead again.

"No, you've watched enough TV for now. Get it done and then it's out of the way." Robbie reasoned with him. "Go get your bag and get set up in the kitchen."

"Fine." Shaun finally gave in, getting up off the couch and grabbing his bag.

"I'll have a look at it when you're finished!" Robbie called to Shaun while the man made his way upstairs.

At the top of the stairs, the bland colour pattern reached out and had absorbed the upper floor of the house as well. Robbie opened the door furthest from the staircase and went inside.

The room was very stuffy and dark. Colourless and dusty, the room contained nothing but a few boxes and Robbie's old drawing board. For old time's sake, Robbie dusted off the sketch on the board that he had never handed into the client. The sketch was done just days before… that day.

Before Robbie had a chance to check out more of the old belongings in the room, he heard his son's voice calling out.

"Dad! I'm finished! Can I go watch TV?"

Robbie rushed downstairs and checked Shaun's work.

"Pretty good. Looks like you're done! Off you go." Robbie said happily, ruffling Shaun's hair as the boy joyfully got up from the dining room table.

Suddenly finding himself searching for something to do again, Robbie checked the time again.

_6:35_

Not quite time for dinner.

Robbie went back upstairs and, curiosity getting the better of him, entered Shaun's bedroom.

The faded rainbow wallpaper gave the room a rather dismal atmosphere. Shaun's blue bed looked as though it hadn't been slept in for years. But it was Shaun's desk that caught Robbie's eye. On it lay a piece of paper. A drawing.

Robbie was horrified when he examined the drawing.

It was a drawing of himself. And Jason. Unconscious in the middle of a road. With Cat and Shaun holding hands watching.

Robbie could feel tears forming in his eyes within seconds. Dropping the drawing like a hot potato, the confused man hurried back downstairs and checked the time again.

_7:10_

_Shaun's gotta be hungry by now._

Re-entering the living room, Robbie made his way over to Shaun, who had repositioned himself in front of the TV.

"It's dinner time. Are you hungry?"

"Yeah! I'm really hungry!" Shaun answered.

"Okay, I'll go see what I can find." Robbie said, wandering into the kitchen.

Robbie immediately made his way back into the kitchen and opened the grey, metallic fridge. He grabbed a pizza and shut the fridge, throwing the pizza into the microwave.

The thirty seconds went by rather quickly, and Robbie quickly cut the pizza in half, placing one of the halves on Shaun's plate and leaving the rest by the sink.

"Shaun, your meal is ready!" Robbie told him.

"I'm coming!" Shaun said, moving with actual spirit for the first time all afternoon.

Robbie noticed the boy sneeze as he sat down at the table.

_I think he might be catching a cold… there should be some pills upstairs._

Robbie traversed the staircase again while Shaun sat down to eat his microwave pizza. Robbie entered the upstairs bathroom and pulled the cabinet door open, grabbing a couple of pills from the bottle and heading back downstairs, where Shaun was sat watching TV again.

"Here you go, Shaun." he said, handing the pills over.

"What are these?"

"Pills to get rid of your cold." Robbie answered. At that, Shaun quickly took them.

Robbie checked the time.

_8:20_

"Okay, Shaun, it's time for bed now." Robbie told him.

"I'm not tired yet. Can I stay up a little longer?" Shaun asked, not taking his eyes off of the television.

"Now that's not very reasonable, is it? You have school tomorrow. You need some sleep." Robbie argued.

Shaun let out a heavy sigh.

"Okay."

"Go brush your teeth and put on your pyjamas, and I'll come on up."

Shaun quietly went upstairs while Robbie turned off the TV and threw Shaun's empty bag of chips in the trash. Robbie then headed upstairs and entered his stuffy little study again.

Noticing the remote for the small TV in the corner of the room, Robbie pressed the 'on' button.

An instant flash of green as the colourful garden of the past took over the screen. The camera panned up and Robbie quickly recognized the faces of Shaun and Jason running around their old garden.

"Hey, stop messing around, or I'll never be able to film you!" Robbie heard his own voice coming from behind the camera.

"What do you want me to do?" Jason asked.

Robbie felt his heart almost come to a standstill in that one moment. That was the first time he'd heard his son's voice since the day at the mall. And yet it was such a warm, familiar sound.

"Umm, I don't know… oh! Jason, tell me what you wanna be when you grow up!" Robbie said to his son.

"I don't know!" Jason immediately responded. "Maybe a fireman or an astronaut… oh, wait! I know! I'll be a dinosaur hunter!"

"I'll make video games!" Shaun chipped in.

The camera suddenly panned further to the left.

"Aaand here is the most beautiful mother in the whole wide world!" Robbie proudly stated, turning the camera on Cat.

"Ohh, Robbie! Don't film me!" Cat asked of him.

The screen blinked back to nothingness as Robbie, feeling the tears coming on yet again, pressed the power button and almost dropped the remote on the ground.

How could he have messed things up so badly? How did his life go from the top of the world to down in the dumps all because of one day? One mistake?

Burying his face in his hands, his breathing shaky, Robbie was fighting the urge to just lean back in his chair and cry. Cry for all the wasted years. All the tragic events. Everything that had happened in the last two years, Robbie just wanted to cry for. He wanted to cry and cry as though it'd make it all go away.

_I'm sorry, Jason… I'm so sorry._

"Dad! I'm going to bed now!" Shaun called to him from outside.

His shoulders heavy with guilt, Robbie pulled himself up off the chair and walked into Shaun's room, where the young boy was laying on his bed waiting.

"Goodnight, Shaun." Robbie said, sitting on the end of his bed.

"Night." Shaun replied quietly.

Robbie turned to walk out of the room.

"Dad?"

"Yeah?" Robbie turned to ask.

"Why do you look so sad?

"I…" the question had caught him off guard. "I think I just need some time. To get back to the way things were."

"You know, Dad, what happened to Jason wasn't your fault." Shaun innocently said.

Robbie felt his spirits slightly uplifted. It was in that moment that Robbie began to see a window of hope; that one day, in the future, things might be better. Better than this.

Sighing happily, Robbie repeated: "Goodnight, Shaun."

Robbie walked out of the room, and slowly shut the door.

That was when he began to feel the pain.

The pain in his head. It was weakening, mind-numbing.

Unbearable.

Wiping the sweat off his forehead with his arm, Robbie struggled to keep himself standing up as the numbness overtook his whole body. He could see his vision blurring. The cream blandness of the world fading out. His breathing got more and more intense and heavy until suddenly, he gave in, and felt his eyes closing.

Blink.

The first thing Robbie felt was the raindrops falling on his head.

…_where am I?_

Breathing heavily, Robbie took in his surroundings.

Everything was dark. It was nighttime. The only source of light was coming from the lampposts which were illuminating the street he was standing in the middle of.

Dazed and confused, Robbie started his long walk home after examining the sign hanging above his head.

_Carnaby Corner North_

As he slowly made his way home in the pouring rain, Robbie couldn't for the life of his fathom why this was happening to him.

* * *

**Tuesday**

**00:06 am**

**0.272 inches**

The neon sign posted above the motel door flickered in the pouring rain as an old, brown car pulled up outside, coming to a stop.

The car door opened, and Beck Oliver took a step outside into the night. Shutting the car door and locking it, Beck turned around and reached out to the motel door, grabbing the handle and pushing the old wooden door open.

Beck stepped inside, the lack of heating making itself apparent through the sudden drop in temperature inside the building. The light-brown wallpaper was half ripped off the old, rotting walls of the lobby.

The lobby was quite empty. An old, faded red chair sat in the corner of the room next to an untouched coat hanger. On the opposite side of the lobby was the reception, labelled clearly by the rusty, gold sign saying 'RECEPTION'.

Beck slowly walked over to the counter.

"Trina Winters. Ring any bells?" Beck asked the receptionist.

"Nope, can't say it does." the receptionist replied, not even looking up from the newspaper he was reading.

Sighing in irritation, Beck slipped his hand into his right jacket pocket and pulled his wallet out, slipping the receptionist a five dollar bill.

"Oh, _that _Trina Winters?" the receptionist suddenly responded, pocketing the money. "Third floor, last door on the left at the end of the corridor."

Not even bothering to thank the man, Beck turned and made his way up the steep, wooden staircase. The atmosphere of the entire building made Beck feel like he was walking straight into some old horror movie.

Stopping upon reaching the third floor to catch his breath for a second, Beck observed the corridor. Three doors on each side.

_What was it the guy said? Umm… third last door on the left?_

Beck made his way down the corridor, his movements slow and almost unsteady. Reaching the door that apparently attached to Trina's apartment, Beck knocked on the old, wooden door.

A few seconds passed before the door was opened just a fraction, and a face peered around the gap.

"Trina Winters?" Beck greeted the woman uncertainly.

"Sorry, I only see clients by appointment." Trina dismissed him, shutting the door.

Reacting fast, Beck shoved his hand against the door to stop Trina from closing it in his face.

"Wait!" Beck insisted.

Letting out an angry sigh, Trina pulled the door all the way open. Beck felt ashamed of himself for taking in how much her legs were on show thanks to her short, black nightgown.

"It's fifty bucks. I don't kiss, and I don't do any weird shit." Trina told him.

"Fine by me." Beck replied quickly, following Trina into her apartment and shutting the door behind him.

"Put your money on the table, you've got exactly ten minutes, when the alarm rings, it's over, okay?" Trina informed Beck monotonously, indicating that she's gone through this many a time.

Beck couldn't help but notice how nice and tidy Trina's apartment was. It seemed quite out of place with the sleazy building it was attached to. The floral wallpaper looked fairly new and the modernised pink light hanging from the ceiling cast a relaxing glow on the room.

Turning around after setting the alarm, Trina cast a confused look over her face.

"You should take your clothes off – we haven't got all day, you know." the woman suggested.

"Actually, I'm not a customer." Beck finally declared. Before he could continue, Trina let out a defeated sigh.

"Oh shit, a cop... I should've known. What do you want? A freebie? Is that it?" Trina questioned the man.

Breathing in, Beck finally gave Trina the information she wanted.

"My name is Beck Oliver. I'm a private detective. The families of the victims of the Origami Killer hired me to investigate the murders. I just came here to ask you some questions about Johnny."

The emotion in her eyes practically draining away, Trina was quick to go on the defensive.

"I already told the police everything I know, and I have nothing to add. Leave me alone."

"There will be other victims if we don't stop the killer. You've got to help me, Trina. You may know something that could aid the investigation." Beck argued.

"Help you?!" Trina interrupted. "There's nothing you can do! My son is dead, do you hear me? He's dead!"

"Look, I understand, Trina. I know what you're going through."

"Oh yeah? You know what it's like to find your son's body on a wasteland? I'm sorry, but I don't think you have the slightest idea of what I'm going through, _detective._" Trina coldly retaliated.

"Ugghh, the killer is walking around free as we speak! He'll kill again if he's not arrested!" Beck yelled.

"My Johnny's dead, so what difference does it make?" Trina asked, quietly.

Beck had already had enough.

"You know what, if we don't find the killer, there'll be other mothers who find _their _son's bodies on a deserted wasteland! Oh, but you're right. Why should you care? It's not your problem anymore." Beck spat out, before turning to walk away.

Trina, shocked and silenced by Beck's sudden outburst, stood and watched for a moment, before lowering herself down to sit on the edge of her bed, looking down at the ground in shame.

"What do you want to know?" Trina asked, defeatedly.

Sighing in relief, Beck began to question the woman.

"Tell me about Johnny. What kind of kid was he?"

"Johnny was really a good boy. Sometimes he fought with other kids who called me a… you know. In his own way… I think he understood what was going on."

"And did Johnny live with you?"

"Yeah. Obviously, I made sure he never met any of my clients. I wanted to stop, you know… but we needed the money! I was trying to earn enough to get us out of here." Trina answered, her gaze never once lifting from the carpet beneath her until she slowly rose to her feet and walked over to the bedside table, grabbing a box of cigarettes, and proceeding to light one. "You want one?" Trina offered, holding the box out.

"No thanks, I quit." Beck declined politely.

Trina scoffed. "Hmm. That's brave." she said, before proceeding to smoke the lit cigarette in her hand, then taking her seat on the bed again.

"Did you suspect anyone after he disappeared?" Beck continued with the questioning.

"Well, I meet a lot of pretty shady characters in my line of work. Sure, I thought of it at first, but it didn't seem to make any sense! I don't believe that any of my clients could have done that... to my Johnny? And to all those other kids?

"How did your son disappear?"

"He used to go play with the neighbourhood kids after school. It was pouring down something awful that day… I'll never forget it. All his friends came home around five… all except him."

The alarm went off. Trina rose to her feet and turned off the beeping sound, before turning to Beck, anger stirring inside of her again.

"Time's up, Mr Oliver. I hope you got what you wanted. Now get out of here." Trina spat the words off her tongue, the angry tears in her eyes reflecting the pink glow of the light hanging from the ceiling.

Beck silently nodded.

_No point in pushing it… she's not gonna tell me anything more._

Trina slowly walked over and stared at her own reflection in the mirror as Beck proceeded towards the door, before he remembered something and stopped. He reached into his right pocket and grabbed his wallet yet again.

"Well, if you remember anything – the smallest detail – give me a call." Beck instructed the silent woman, placing his card on the table, pulling the door open and leaving Trina to sob in the comfort of her own solitude.

Beck silently made his way down the corridor towards the staircase, mentally reviewing the information Trina had provided, when he suddenly omitted a desperate gasp for air.

Beck clutched his throat in pain as he let out a couple of coughs, placing one of his hands against the wall to support himself and using the other to check his pockets.

Shirt pocket. Nope.

Right pocket. Wallet, but not what Beck was looking for

Left pocket. Beck instantly felt relief wash over him when he found the small plastic object hidden deep in his jacket pocket.

Beck raised the inhaler to his mouth and relieved himself from the pain, paying no attention to the big, tough-looking man who strode confidently past him down the corridor.

Taking in a deep breath after removing the inhaler from his mouth, Beck suddenly heard the pounding coming from the man, who was banging his fist on Trina's door.

"Trina! Trina, open up baby, it's me!" the man called to her from outside the apartment.

Beck, as he struggled to regain his regular breathing pattern, heard the door open.

"Troy, what are you doing here? I already told you I don't wanna see you anymore." Trina answered the man.

"Sorry, doll," Troy replied, as Beck turned his full attention to the conversation happening down the corridor, "but I really wanted to see ya."

And with that, Troy pushed the door open and stormed into Trina's apartment, slamming the door shut behind him.

Panic instantly hit Beck when he heard the sound of a girl screaming. Powerwalking up the corridor, Beck knocked on Trina's door again. No answer, just the sound of Trina's grunts of pain and terror.

Beck knocked again, pounding his fist on the door. As his third knock hit the door, it swung open.

"What do you want, asshole?" Troy rudely greeted Beck.

Dismissing the man, Beck tried to look over his shoulder into the apartment. Within a second, he detected Trina lying on the apartment floor, evidently in pain.

"Trina! Is everything alright?"

"She's just swell." Troy answered for her. "Now beat it, loser!" Troy yelled, slamming the door shut in Beck's face.

Adrenaline rising, Beck raised a leg and kicked the door with all his power, forcing it open and storming into the apartment.

"You again? If you're looking for trouble, you've found it. I'm gonna beat the shit outta you!" Troy said, pushing Beck back into the door.

Troy tried to slam the door into the side of Beck's face, but Beck was quick to press one arm against the door, using his other hand to punch Troy hard in the face, knocking him back.

Beck grabbed the lamp next to him on a desk and attempted to smash it over Troy's head, but Troy was too fast and dodged to the side, quickly regaining his balance and throwing a left punch at Beck. Beck leaned back to avoid the punch, but Troy suddenly grabbed Beck's head, pulling him into the apartment.

Beck grabbed Troy's head in retaliation and the two spun around as they quickly moved through the apartment. Beck managed to gain the upper hand and smashed Troy's head through the glass pane separating Trina's bathroom from the rest of the apartment.

Shrugging the pain off, Troy threw several punches at Beck, all of which were blocked. Beck saw a window of opportunity and elbowed Troy in the stomach, momentarily knocking the wind out of him.

Regaining his breath, Troy grabbed a chair from beside Trina's dining table.

"Troy, NO!" Trina yelled, realising what Troy intended to do.

Troy threw the chair overhead at Beck, but Beck swatted it aside. During the moment of distraction, Troy charged at Beck and grabbed him around the waist, spinning him around and pinning him against the dining table.

Thinking fast, Beck grabbed an empty bottle and smashed it over Troy's head, and then forcefully kicked him in the shins. Troy lost control for a moment, and Beck grabbed another empty bottle and tried to smash it over Troy's head, but the man was thinking ahead that time, and grabbed the bottle, throwing it against the wall and smashing it.

Troy pulled Beck up off the table and, maintaining his grip on Beck's shirt, slammed him against the fridge. Dodging one punch, and then another, Beck ran to the right towards the sink. Dodging one more punch, Beck grabbed Troy by the waist and picked him up, exerting all his strength into slamming Troy through Trina's dining table. The table quickly gave way and smashed under the force.

Troy swiftly rose back to his feet and grabbed one last bottle, smashing half of it on the ground to create a sharp, jagged edge, which he swung at Beck. Realising the sudden escalated danger, Beck's adrenaline rose even more, jumping backwards to dodge the swing.

"Troy, stop or I will call the cops! Troy, I will CALL THE COPS!" Trina screamed, to no avail.

Beck dodged another swing, when suddenly Troy tried to stab Beck in the stomach with the bottle.

Beck dodged to the side and grabbed Troy's extended arm, swinging him round in a circle before slamming him through another glass pane. Troy unsteadily rose back up, trying to regain his balance, until Beck swung one last, forceful punch right at Troy's face.

Troy was knocked back down to the floor, before half running, half crawling out of the apartment, clutching his bloody nose in defeat.

"I'll see you again, asshole." Troy threatened, before fleeing the scene.

Beck almost fell back against the wall in exhaustion. Trina quickly moved over to him.

"God, are you alright?" she asked, worriedly.

"Better than him, I guess… who is he?" Beck asked.

"Ugghh, an ex-client who thinks he owns me. He was getting violent and I told him I didn't wanna see him anymore."

Beck winced from the pain in his back. "Well you should be careful… he'll probably be back. Sorry about the mess!" Beck said as he pulled the door wide open to leave again.

Standing cluelessly for a moment, Trina suddenly stepped forward.

"Mr Oliver?" she asked.

Beck turned around slowly to hear what she had to say.

"Yeah?"

"Thanks." Trina quietly said.

Beck waved it off, limping out of the apartment and closing the door behind him. Beck continued to limp down the corridor, grumbling in pain to himself.

Trina just stared at her closed apartment door, not knowing what to think about what had just happened.


	3. The FBI Agent

**The story's finally starting to go somewhere now. Congratulations if you made it to here!**

**Disclaimer: I do not own anything.**

* * *

**Tuesday**

**8:05 am**

**0.680 inches**

The windscreen wipers proved to be little use against the torrential downfall of the night on the windscreen of André Harris's car.

André could make out the flashing blue and red siren of the ambulance at the end of the road, sectioned off by the police.

The light of day was still covered by the dull aftermath of the night's storm. It could have been midnight and André would have been none the wiser.

André could feel the spasms in his hands as he was pulling up the car. It took all his willpower not to steer the vehicle into the police officers. Finally, as the car came to a standstill, André released his tight grip on the steering wheel and could only watch as his hands shook into a frenzy in front of his eyes.

He was quick to reach into his pocket and grab the small, glass vial. The bright blue liquid inside called out to André in temptation. Deciding to leave it for now, André shoved the vial back into his pocket and got out of the car.

The big metal fence around the crime scene was crowded with journalists trying to get decent coverage of the area. Some of them looked absolutely drenched, as though they'd been here for hours in the rain.

André's white shirt and dark grey tie were covered from the rain by his grey coat as he made his way towards the police officers.

_Oh god, my hands are trembling… I gotta keep my act together, at least for now._

And with that, André reached the officers.

"This section is zoned off sir, please step back." one of the officers ordered him.

"Agent André Harris, FBI." André calmly introduced himself, fishing in his coat pocket for his card and holding it up to the officer, who examined it for a moment.

"Check. You can pass." the man confirmed, stepping aside.

André quickly lifted the police line and stepped under it. Before walking off, he turned back to the officers.

"I'm looking for Lieutenant West. Is she around?" André asked.

"Umm… I saw her arrive earlier, so she's definitely here somewhere."

"Thanks." André said quietly before walking off into the crime scene.

The field was damp and muddy from the rainfall. The mud made the ground slightly more slippery than André had expected, and he almost slipped over, though he managed to keep his footing.

Slipping his hand into his shirt pocket, André pulled out a black pair of glasses. Slipping them on, any police officer would think of them as regular glasses. What André saw was, in essence, a virtual version of the world he was standing in. Everything was tinted grey and information about the police officer walking past André flashed in front of his eyes. Technology one would find in a time-travel movie from 2050. Specially designed for the FBI.

"Video memo recording, Agent 47023, André Harris. Tuesday, October 4th, 2011. Time is… 8:14 am." André professionally said to himself for reference.

André looked around. Information popped up in front of the man's eyes about every potential clue in the area. The footprints of the officers. The spilt coffee on the floor.

The pollen in the air.

"Some orchid pollen… the concentration of the pollen in the air is quickly decreasing because of the rain, but it gets higher in the direction of the body." André noted.

Finally turning his attention to the small tent put up to preserve the body, André walked over to it and crouched down. He pulled the front of the tent open and prepared to examine the body of the young boy.

"Hey! You there! What are you doing?" a voice called out from behind him.

André pulled the tent shut again and removed his ARI glasses, turning to face the woman behind him.

"Lieutenant West?" André asked. "I'm Agent André Harris from the FBI. I went by your office earlier this morning; they told me you'd be here."

"Well, if you're looking for rain, dead bodies and highways, you've come to the right place. Lieutenant Jade West." Jade introduced herself, letting out a sigh of frustration. "Mike, will you tell that asshole with the bulldozer to stop for five minutes? I can't hear myself think out here." she complained.

"Yes, Lieutenant." the flustered officer agreed, and walked off.

Jade turned and began to walk away from André, suddenly stopping in her place and turning back to him.

"Well? Are you coming, Harris?" she asked.

André nodded and followed her.

"So… what happened?" André asked.

"Ummm, some guy taking his dog for a piss found the body at about six o'clock this morning. We don't know much else right now. Based on what we've found, it looks like the work of the Origami Killer." Jade said, confirming André's suspicions.

"Do we know the cause of death?"

"Well, there are no marks on the body… chances are, he was drowned, just like the other victims."

"Any witnesses?"

"None yet." Jade answered, "Given the neighbourhood, I'd be surprised if anybody saw anything." Jade turned to an officer standing nearby. "Toby, I don't wanna see a single shit-stirring journalist within a mile of here, you got me?" Jade ordered.

"Of course, Lieutenant."

André followed Jade as she walked away again.

"Uhh, there are a lot of people on the crime scene. Aren't you afraid your men might destroy some clues?" André inquired.

"Look, you don't find proof sitting behind a desk. And we're not in the habit of trampling things into the ground, even if we're not in the _FBI_." Jade argued, her tone of voice rising.

"No, no, of course not, that's not what I meant." André corrected himself, not wanting to anger this girl.

"Listen, I'm a little busy here. Why don't we discuss this later, back at the office?" Jade suggested.

"Okay, no problem… I understand. But do you mind if I have a look around?" André asked.

"Be my guest. Hey, you come and see me if you find anything. Okay? We're on the same team now." Jade said before walking away.

André watched her go.

_Strange character, that West… she didn't seem too pleased to see me._

André turned his attention back to the body. Making his way across the wasteland back to the tent, André slipped his glasses back on and checked the body.

"ARI, comment: The victim is lying on his back. No visible signs of violence." André looked the body up and down. "The victim is Jeremy Bowles, declared missing five days ago, see reference file. Superficial wound on the right thigh. Blood analysis suggests that it could be post-mortem. Probably a scratch that occurred when the body was being moved. The blood report indicates an advances and long-lasting state of exhaustion."

_Let's see, what else have we got…_

André noticed something in the boy's right hand.

"A small origami figure in the right hand… fingers were probably closed after the time of death." Looking up, André noticed something else. "An orchid was placed on the victim's chest… and his face is covered with mud. Like the other victims…"

Quickly realising that he'd seen everything the body had to offer, André rose back to his feet and closed the tent, deciding to search for more clues. The ARI glasses highlighted the orchid pollen in front of him in a bright yellow. The pheromones in the air formed a sort of trail leading towards the railway line. Following the trail, André quickly noticed something peculiar on the ground.

"ARI, comment: Traces of blood on the railroad track… analysis confirms it comes from the victim." That wasn't all though. There was a trail of footprints leading from the blood. "The footprints continue just after the pollen trail… there's a good chance that they're the killer's."

Following the footprints, André almost walked straight into the fence separating the wasteland from the hill leading up to the busy, stretching highway.

"ARI, comment: There are traces of blood on the fence behind the railroad line… it comes from the victim… the killer must have came down the hill with the body and grazed it on the fence! That would explain the wound on the kid's body." André felt rather triumphant whenever he began to put clues together.

Not wanting to stop now, André ducked under the gap in the fence and placed one foot on the hill. Again, André had underestimated how slippery the hill would be due to the mud, and fell to the ground the second he lifted his other foot off the ground. Quickly rising back to his feet, wiping the mud off his hands and putting his glasses back in his shirt pocket, André prepared to climb again.

Crawling up on his hands and knees, André slowly but surely made his way to the top of the hill.

_The cops all look so small from up here!_

Putting his ARI back on, André instantly noticed the trail of footprints continuing.

"ARI, comment: Same footprints from earlier. Very strong chance that they belong to the killer."

Two bright yellow smears on the ground next to the highway caught his attention.

"Hmm… ARI, comment: Tire tracks left beside the road behind the railroad line. Could be the killer's car?" André wondered to himself.

_Alright… I think I've seen enough. Better get back to the station before I catch pneumonia or something._

André removed his ARI and returned to the world of reality. He tried to make his way down the hill slowly but quickly lost his footing and ended up practically sliding down the hill.

Wiping mud off of the back of his coat, André made his way across the muddy patches of grass back towards the entrance. As he was approaching the officers guarding the police line, he heard a familiar voice behind him.

"Hey, are you heading back to the office?" Jade asked.

"Yeah, I think I've seen enough." André replied.

"Yeah, me too."

Jade ducked under the police line, and André followed suit. André climbed back into his car and drove away from the dirty wasteland as Jade continued walking off into the distance to wherever her car was parked.

* * *

**Tuesday**

**1:00 pm**

**0.765 inches**

"A bat."

The ink blots on the projection screen above Robbie changed.

"A rat – a rat's head."

They changed again.

"Two faces… back-to-back."

They changed again. Robbie didn't even need to think for a microsecond about this one.

"Death… Death."

The therapist pressed a switch that lay on his desk and all the lights in the room came back on. The room almost resembled a cathedral of some sort. The windows were all of green, translucent glass which cast an eerie glow on the huge room. Robbie lay on a bed in the middle of the room with the screen above him. The therapist sat behind his desk off in the corner of the room, analysing the results behind Robbie's answers.

After a few seconds of silence, the therapist spoke up.

"I have the results of your MRI scans." the man said while Robbie pushed himself up off the bed and slowly walked over to the empty chair on the other side of the desk. "Everything seems to be normal. There is no physical damage from the accident… however, I am worried about your psychological condition." he admitted. "I know it's not easy, but you've got to start over, Robbie. You're not responsible for what happened to Jason."

"It's my fault Jason is dead." Robbie spoke up, not lifting his gaze from his shoes, which suddenly seemed so interesting. "He'd still be alive if I'd been looking out for him."

"It was an accident. Accidents happen every day!" his therapist countered. "You can't blame yourself forever for your son's death."

An awkward silence filled the room.

"And how is Shaun?" the man suddenly spoke up.

"I think he resents the fact that I can't live up to his expectations… that I seem incapable of making his mother and him happy." Robbie confided.

"And what about you, Robbie? What do you feel?

"I… no longer want to live… I have no reason to continue." Robbie mumbled.

"Not even for Shaun?"

"I couldn't save Jason… Shaun doesn't need a father like me."

Robbie could feel the therapist's gaze on him… getting inside his head, analysing his every thought.

"Is there something else you wanted to tell me, Robbie?"

* * *

_Blink._

_Where am I?_

_Carnaby Corner North_

* * *

"No." Robbie quickly answered. "No…"

The alarm on the desk went off.

"Aah, that's the end of this session. We'll continue this conversation next week."

Robbie rose from his chair and turned to leave.

"You were lucky, Robbie." the therapist said from behind him. "It's very rare to survive such a traumatic accident.

"I don't exactly feel lucky, doctor."

And at that, Robbie left the room, still feeling the man's intense, analytic gaze piercing his mind.


	4. The Park

**Nothing much to say really. Just remember to leave a review if you're enjoying this story! You have no idea how much I'd appreciate it!**

**Disclaimer: I do not own anything.**

* * *

**Tuesday**

**4:15 pm**

**0.986 inches**

The playful yells of the children in the park did little to drown out the silence between Robbie and his son, Shaun. Sat on opposite ends of a green, wooden bench, Shaun refused to even meet his father's eyes. Robbie was running possible things to say through his brain.

"Umm… aren't you gonna go play with the other kids?" Robbie asked, turning to Shaun.

Shaun hesitated for a couple of seconds before responding, "I don't feel like it."

"Well… how did things go at school today?"

"The teacher yelled at me for being late again. She's gonna send me home the next time it happens." Shaun mumbled.

Robbie let out a guilty sigh. "I'm sorry about that, Shaun… next time we'll really pull it together, okay?"

The empty silence shrouded the area again as neither of the two could find the words to say. A moment or two passed before Robbie spoke up again.

"Is something the matter, Shaun?" he asked, leaning forwards and looking back at his son.

Shaun remained silent for a few minutes, thinking of a way to answer.

"No. I'm alright." he finally responded.

"Uhh… do you want to eat something?"

Shaun simply shrugged, but this was enough of an answer. Robbie heavily pulled himself up and walked over to the little candy stand on the other side of the park.

"I'd like a bag of… strawberry-flavoured chewies, please." Robbie asked.

The man at the stand grabbed a bag and handed it to Robbie, who gave the man a dollar in exchange.

"Thanks." Robbie said before turning around and heading back to the bench. "Hey, I got you some chewies." Robbie told Shaun, holding the bag out.

Shaun glanced at the bag. "I hate strawberry." he bluntly responded.

Robbie frowned, feeling as though he had messed up again. He rose back to his feet to throw the candy away, but Shaun grabbed the bag as he was getting up.

"Thanks," Shaun said, taking the bag, "it was nice of you anyway."

_Ugghh.. I shoulda known he doesn't like strawberry… I don't even know my own son anymore._

Robbie glanced back at Shaun.

_He looks so miserable… I wish I could help him, but I'm just not sure I can right now. Ugghh, what can I do to cheer him up?_

Robbie looked down at the ground and noticed something sticking out of Shaun's backpack. Robbie walked slowly over to the backpack and pulled out a boomerang.

"A boomerang? Do you know how to use it?" Robbie asked.

"No, not really… I can never make it come back."

"Well… can I give it a try?" Robbie asked, moving into the clear space behind the bench. Shaun turned over on the bench and rested on his knees as he watched his father.

Robbie threw the boomerang like a natural. It flew out past the tree and, for a split-second, Shaun thought he had lost it.

But then he noticed it coming back full-circle. Robbie crouched slightly, then leaped up and grabbed the boomerang in mid-air.

Shaun began clapping, a smile slowly forming on his face.

"You did it, Dad!" Shaun said in amazement.

"Do you wanna give it a try?" Robbie asked.

"Aww, I won't be able to do it." Shaun responded, his voice dropping again.

"Oh come on, let's try together!" Robbie suggested.

Shaun jumped off the bench and ran over to Robbie, who handed the boomerang over to him.

"Now, the most important thing is to get the right position at the beginning." Robbie instructed. "Now, you've gotta throw it straight, and a little to the right."

Shaun moved his arm back, ready to throw. Robbie adjusted Shaun's right leg and told him to throw it.

The boomerang flew off past the tree and came back around; it flew right into Shaun's outstretched arms.

"I did it!" Shaun cheered, jumping with joy. "I did it, Dad!" Shaun dropped the boomerang and hugged Robbie.

"Good job, Shaun! See, that wasn't so hard, was it?" Robbie said, chuckling.

Shaun picked up the boomerang and ran around with it as though it were a plane. Robbie watched him, smiling.

_I should try to find something else to do with him._

That was when Robbie set his eyes on the see-saw a few feet in front of the bench.

"You know…" Robbie started, walking over to it, "I haven't been on a see-saw in a long time. What do you think?" he turned to Shaun.

Shaun's face lit up. "Yeah! Okay!" he said, dropping his boomerang back into his backpack and running over. Shaun quickly jumped on one of the seats, dropping to the ground.

Robbie raised one leg over the other seat and pushed down on the handle, making Shaun's side go up.

"Come on, Dad! Make me fly!" Shaun said enthusiastically.

Robbie, crouched above the seat on his side, kept pushing down on the seesaw handle, making Shaun jump higher and higher each time. Shaun's contagious giggling was like music to Robbie's ears as he continued to push down on the see-saw faster and faster, turning Shaun's beige coat and green pants slowly become a bit of a blur.

Finally, Robbie stopped, leaving Shaun's legs dangling in mid-air. Shaun climbed off the see-saw and, still giggling, stared at Robbie expectantly.

_He seems to be having fun… it's been a long time since I've seen that smile._

Robbie looked up at the sky and frowned.

_It's getting dark… it might start to rain soon._

"Looks like rain's coming." Robbie said to Shaun as the first few drops began to fall. "I think we'd better go."

"Okay." Shaun said, running over to the bench and grabbing his backpack. "You know, sometimes I remember before… I mean, when Jason was still here." Shaun admitted. "Sometimes I just wish everything could be the way it was before."

The words stung at Robbie's heart. The guilt hit him at full-force once more.

"Me too, Shaun… me too."

The two walked towards the exit, but something grabbed Shaun's attention.

"Hey Dad! Can I have a ride on the carousel? Can I?" Shaun begged.

Robbie chuckled. "Sure. Go pick a horse and get on. I'll go get a ticket." Robbie walked over to the ticket stand, feeling happy with himself.

_I wanna get back to being the kind of father that I used to be._

"One, please." Robbie said to the man at the stand.

"That'll be a dollar." the man said, which Robbie was happy to pay.

Robbie watched happily as the carousel began to spin around. Shaun waved at Robbie as he passed him and quickly went out-of-sight.

That was when Robbie felt the pain again.

The pain eating away at his mind. Robbie turned around in a sudden panic as the world began to blur out again. His shoulders began to droop and Robbie's breathing got heavier and heavier as he struggled to keep his consciousness.

The pain crept over his entire body and Robbie quickly entered a stunned daze, his mouth slightly agape as he stared into space.

Blink.

The headlights of the oncoming truck blinded Robbie and confused him as to what was going on.

The sound of the horn, however, had quite the opposite effect. Robbie leaped to the side just in time and for a minute, he felt that he could literally lay there in the middle of the road forever.

Clambering back onto his feet, the first thing Robbie noticed was the sign.

_Carnaby Corner North._

As he was reading this, one urgent matter came to mind.

_Shaun! Where's Shaun?!_

"Shaun?!" Robbie called out. No answer. The terror hit Robbie like a heart attack as he sprinted down the road in the direction of the park screaming for his son. "Shaun! Shaun!"

A few blocks of running frantically later, Robbie arrived at the park and desperately scanned the area. The park was empty.

_No… no! I've got to find him! I've got to!_

"Shaun?" Robbie called out again, beginning to lose hope. Running through the park, Robbie almost tripped over something left on the ground.

Shaun's backpack, completely soaked from the heavy rainfall.

_His backpack's still here, but where's Shaun? Wait, the house! He must have gone back to the house!_

Realising this, Robbie took off running again.

After sprinting another three blocks, Robbie practically leaped up the small stairs leading to his front door.

He swung the door open, desperately searching for any sign of the boy.

"Shaun?!"

_He's here, he's gotta be here somewhere!_

Robbie ran through the rooms. The living room. The kitchen. The bathroom.

Nothing.

Nothing.

Nothing.

Robbie took off upstairs and almost ran into Shaun's bedroom door, managing to grab the handle in his frenzied panic and swinging the door open.

"Shaun!" Robbie yelled again.

Nothing.

Robbie ran back downstairs again, running out of the front door he had forgotten to close and out into the street. Looking desperately around the entire area, scanning his brain for any potential place Shaun could be.

Nothing.

Exhausted and weakened, Robbie collapsed to his knees in the middle of the road.

"SHAAAAAAAAAAUUUUUUUN!" Robbie screamed hopelessly at the gloomy evening sky, dropping his head down and letting his tears become one with the rain...


	5. The Shopkeeper

**As I'm sure you can tell, the story's finally getting into gear. Remember to leave a review if you liked it! It motivates me that much more to write!**

**Disclaimer: I do not own anything.**

* * *

**Tuesday**

**7:55 pm**

**1.326 inches**

The blue-and-grey of the police station made André grow even more bored than he already was. Sat on a flimsy little chair in the corner of the building outside Captain Perry's office, waiting to introduce himself, André felt like he was about to fall asleep.

"Do you think it's gonna take long?" André asked the secretary who was sat at her desk a few feet away.

"No, he should be finished soon." she answered, smiling and returning to her work.

_Ugggghhh, let's just get the formalities out of the way so I can get back to some real work. I'm so bored… I hate having nothing to do._

That was when an idea formed in André's brain. He dug into his shirt pocket and pulled out his ARI, quickly putting it on. Waving his hand around for a minute, André selected an activity to pass the time.

A virtual brick wall was built up in front of his eyes, a few feet away. A ball virtualised in André's hand. For a few minutes, André kept throwing the ball at the wall and catching it as it bounced back. The policeman walking past him looked at him as though he were a maniac.

With each catch, the glowing orange hi-score in the upper-right corner of André's vision increased.

_21211_

_21212_

_21213_

André had a lot of free time before being assigned to this investigation.

André quickly pulled the glasses off as the door opened and Captain Perry walked out. A well-dressed man; his black jacket and trousers complimented his dark blue shirt and his brown-patterned, untied tie.

"I'm off, Charlene, I'll look at the reports later." Captain Perry told his secretary. "Oh, and cancel all appointments for this evening."

"Okay. Oh, Captain, Agent André Harris from the FBI is here." Charlene informed him.

Perry turned around and met André's eyes.

"Harris! Of course, we've been expecting you." the captain said, shaking André's hand. "I'm in a bit of a hurry, would you mind tagging along? We can talk as we walk."

"Well perhaps there would be a better time?" André asked awkwardly as he followed Perry through the station.

"No, no, now is fine, I just have to get to the press conference." he said. André noticed him awkwardly fumbling with his tie. "We have them every day now… believe me, it's not always easy finding something to tell them. Fortunately, today we have some news!"

"News?" André asked.

"Have you met Lieutenant West yet?" Perry asked as though he were avoiding the question.

"Yeah – yeah, we met this morning." André confirmed.

"She has her own methods, but she's a good cop. I'm sure you'll get on well together. Umm, do you know how to tie a knot in a necktie?" Perry asked.

"Yeah, I guess…" André said, grabbing both ends of Perry's tie and tying it up.

"To be frank with you, I could have done without the FBI on this one, but the press are all over us. This Origami Killer case crept up on us and it's fast becoming a national concern. There's hundreds of killers in this country but, what do you know – this guy is… exotic, he leaves flowers and origami figures... work _that _one out. Then the press get onto it and we suddenly become the centre of the universe."

"With all due respect, sir, I'm here to arrest a serial killer. The rest of it? It's none of my business." André said.

Perry hesitated before responding. "Of course. All I'm asking is that you work fast. The press want a perpetrator, and we're gonna have to serve him up on a silver platter." Perry examined the knot in his tie. "Hmm... not bad."

André watched as Perry began to walk away, but then he turned around.

"Oh, go see Charlene – she'll show you to your office! Uhh, check in on the press conference if you're interested." Perry offered, gesturing to the conference room. "It'll give you an idea of the political climate around here."

"Thanks… sir." André quietly said.

"Welcome to the club, Harris!" Perry said, walking away.

_Hmm… I should get Perry's assistant to show me to my office – I can't wait to get to work._

André made his way back through the station to see Charlene, and noticed Jade sat at her desk, typing furiously away at her computer.

"Umm…" André started, grabbing Jade's attention. "I'm ready to start. Maybe we should kick off by talking about the case?" he suggested.

Jade raised one hand to her face. "I'm still working here. Let's do that later, if you don't mind." she replied, not looking away from the computer.

"Okay, no problem… umm… just let me know when you're available." André said awkwardly, walking away from the lieutenant's desk.

_Hmm… I'm really starting to dislike that girl… I'd better watch my back from now on._

André approached Charlene's desk and noticed something interesting.

"Nice watch." André pointed out, gesturing to the gold watch propped up in a small woven basket on the secretary's desk. Inside the basket were a bunch of dollar bills and a piece of paper.

_Collection_

_For Larry's promotion present_

"Oh, it's the present we offer to our new lieutenants. We've brought the same model for the past twenty years for each promotion. It optimizes everybody's time and it's the kind of thing that always goes down well. You can contribute to our fund if you like; we're still a few dollars short."

André pulled a dollar out of his wallet and dropped it in the basket. "Congratulate Larry on my behalf."

"I'll be sure to do that, sir."

"So Captain Perry said you could show me to my office?" André mentioned.

"Yes, of course." Charlene said, getting up out of her chair. "Follow me."

André followed Charlene to the office door. She pushed the door open and André stepped inside, immediately wishing he could step back outside and never go back in.

The office was extremely small and stuffy. The wallpaper had all been torn off the walls; there was no natural light other than from a small opening at the top of the back wall which created a glaring effect. The desk and chair were clumsily placed in the centre of the office and were thick with the layers of dust on them. There were thick, noticeable cobwebs in every corner of the ceiling.

"This? This is my office?" André asked, his disappointment apparent in his voice.

"That's where I was told to take you." Charlene answered. "If you need anything, you know where to find me." And with that, she walked away.

André walked up and shut the door behind her, turning back to look at the room and wondering where to even start.

_Well, I wanted a quiet place to work… looks like I got it._

André walked over and pulled the chair out from under the desk, before sweeping everything that cluttered up the desk off to the floor. The phone, the books, everything. He swept the dust off and started coughing from how much of it was now lingering around in the air.

André placed his hands on the side of the desk and pushed it across the room so it was back against the wall. Breathing heavily as a result of the effort, André wheeled his chair back under the desk and already felt more at home.

He sat down and pulled out his ARI again.

"Step one: Change the office." André said to himself.

André clapped his hands together and then spread them apart, creating four virtual 'bubbles' each containing a different theme. A leaf. A tidal wave. A cloud. A planet.

André went with his personal favourite: the cloud. He grabbed the 'bubble' and slammed it down on the desk. The office around him was quickly distorted and transformed into a cliff high above the river below. The clouds were so close that André sometimes felt like he could reach out and touch them. He could hear birds gently chirping in the background, and the sound of the ever-so-distant river. This theme always made André feel relaxed.

André, content with his choice, swept all of the other 'bubbles' away and drew a square in the air with his finger. A cube virtualised, which André tapped. The cube opened up and a bunch of smaller cubes popped out of it, each containing a different piece of evidence. André scrolled through them.

_Okay, the orchid…_

André drew two small circles on the cube containing a virtual hologram of the orchid, and the information about it flashed in front of André's eyes.

"Hmm… a common species. That doesn't help much."

The origami figure.

"No prints of specific clues… nothing much to go on."

André scrolled back to the orchid and pulled down a virtual 'map' of the city, sweeping the orchid cube onto the map. The data was analysed and several blue dots appeared all over the map.

"This orchid is a common species. It can be found at any flower shop."

Next, André geo-analysed the origami figure.

Just one dot came up, in the northern end of town.

"Just one origami store in town…"

André remembered something else. He scrolled through his clues until he found what he was looking for: the tire tracks.

"The killer's car is… probably a Chevrolet Malibu '83." André noted.

Feeling like he was making progress, André pulled his map out again and threw the bubble onto it.

_NO DATA FOR GEOANALYSIS_

Realising that there was nothing more to see, André swept all of the clues aside. Next, he grabbed an imaginary handle to his side and an entire filing cabinet virtualised. He pulled one of the drawers open and pulled out two files.

_ORIGAMI KILLER Victims_

_ORIGAMI KILLER Modus Operandi_

André opened the 'Victims' file.

"Eight victims in the last three years…" André said out loud as he read through the file. "All boys aged between nine and thirteen. No signs of violence. The victims disappear from public places in broad daylight, and yet no one notices anything… the bodies are found three to five days later… drowned in rainwater."

André drew his two analysing circles on the file and some more information popped up. He quickly noticed an interesting pattern in the locations of the bodies.

"There is always a railroad line next to where the bodies are found… and all the victims disappeared in the Fall…"

André referenced the file with his map and the locations of all the bodies popped up. They were generally spread all over the city.

"The killer has a large comfort zone… he gained confidence rapidly and moved away from his base… ugghh, this won't make my life any easier." André complained, closing the map.

André decided to check out the 'Modus Operandi' file. He opened it up and was instantly subjected to an entire file of information.

"Always the same ritual; an origami in the hand, an orchid on the chest… the victims have always been dead for less than six hours when they were found. Which means they remained alive under the killer's custody for several days before being drowned… over 3500 people questioned… over 100 suspects interrogated… and not a single lead to go on." André finished.

André analysed the file.

"The killer is white, aged between 30 and 45. He is intelligent, calm and determined. An organised type; he has a car… he's probably employed, but his work allows him free time." André noted to himself.

André cross-referenced the file with his map. No data.

_Okay, I think I've seen enough._

The virtual world around him faded away as André removed the glasses. It was then that he noticed his vision blurring. His hands seemed to be glowing. His head started pounding. His hands were shaking. André buried his face in his hands as though it'd make the pain go away, but it kept on pounding harder and harder.

_Here we go again… ugghh, I'd better go wash my face._

André glanced at the door to the office, which seemed like it was a million miles away.

He rose to his feet and instantly wished he hadn't. His legs started shaking and he struggled to keep his balance.

_I've gotta take some… I'm gonna faint if I resist!_

_No, no… it's alright… I know I can make it._

André clumsily made his way over to the door, stumbling around as though he were drunk. He grabbed the door handle, and just as he was about to open the door, he realised that he had grabbed the vial of bright blue powder from his pocket subconsciously. André stared at the vial.

_All I have to do is take it… and everything'll be alright…_

Almost giving in to the temptation, André willed himself to pocket the vial again and he pulled his office door open, almost falling outside and shutting the door behind him.

The police station was distorted. The boring blue and grey was now a glowing bright silver and André's vision kept blurring in and out.

"Is everything alright, sir?" a policeman asked, noticing André as he walked past him.

André opened his mouth to speak, but nothing came out. Nodding silently, André dismissed the man.

_The restroom._

André looked to his left. The men's room was literally a few feet away.

_No one… no one must see…_

André could feel the spasms in his hands and wrists. He held his hands together in front of his waist to hide the spasms from the officers at the station and carefully walked over to the men's room. The spasms got even more violent and the throbbing pain in his head grew even more as André threw himself inside the restroom, running over to the sink and soaking his face with ice-cold water.

He could feel the nausea washing away. The pain lessened and the spasms slowed to a halt.

_Oh, thank god… I can't let anyone know about this._

He couldn't afford to let anyone know about what he was going through. He had to be careful. Anyone in the station right now could walk in on him.

Jade.

Perry.

Charlene.

Even Robbie Shapiro.

"This is Lietuenant West, Mr Shapiro." Jade's assistant informed the man, who sat at a chair next to Jade's desk. "Could you please tell him what happened?"

"I-it was this afternoon, I went to the park with my son, Shaun, we played together for a little while, and then he wanted to go on the carousel, so I put him on one of the wooden horses, and when I turned back…" Robbie let out a sigh, "Shaun had disappeared."

"Exactly what time did you arrive at the park? Try to remember exactly, Mr Shapiro, every detail can be important." Jade asked.

"It must have been about… 4:15… yeah, that's it, 4:15, I remember exactly because I looked at the clock in the park when we arrived."

"And what was your son wearing when he disappeared?" Jade asked.

"Umm…" Robbie began, trying desperately to remember. "He was wearing a coat… a beige coat." Robbie answered hesitantly. "And a pair of green pants."

Jade scoffed in irritation. "Well how could Shaun have disappeared without you even noticing? Weren't you right by the carousel?"

"I-I went to... sit on a bench a little way off. I didn't notice the carousel had stopped and that must have been when Shaun disappeared." Robbie answered, stumbling awkwardly over his words.

Jade's assistant spoke up. "You say you took your son to the park after school. But you didn't report him missing until 8:15. Why did it take you so long to contact the police?"

"I searched the whole neighbourhood for him! I-I thought he couldn't have gone far!" Robbie answered, not entirely untruthfully.

"Did Shaun have any particular difficulties, Mr Shapiro?" said someone from behind Robbie.

Robbie spun around to face the FBI agent who had asked him the question.

"Anything that might have caused him to run away?" André finished his question.

Robbie opened his mouth immediately to deny the possibility, but instead let out a depressed sigh.

"Shaun is a sensitive child. Our relationship has been a little… difficult recently..." Robbie answered, trailing off at the end.

"Everything okay at school?" André asked. "Any particular problems between you and your wife?"

"Umm, my wife and I have been separated for the last six months. But Shaun would _not _have gone off without telling his mother or me!" Robbie emphasised.

Jade nodded conclusively. "All right, that's all the questions I have for now. You're free to go, Mr Shapiro. We'll continue to look for Shaun overnight, and we'll contact you if we have any more questions."

Robbie watched Jade get up and begin to walk away, a question burning in his mind. He stood up.

"Do… do you think the Origami Killer c-" Robbie began to ask but couldn't bring himself to finish the question.

Jade turned around and gave Robbie a very matter-of-fact-esque look.

"Listen, your son's probably just run off, and he'll turn up in a couple of hours." she answered, and turned to walk away again.

"But what if it is the Origami Killer?" Robbie asked, almost not wanting to hear Jade's answer.

"Well then we have about four days to find him alive." Jade replied coldly, walking away.

Robbie, unsure of what to say or do at this point, walked back to the entrance, where a very distraught Cat sat in the waiting area, moving about on her chair impatiently, her brown hair hiding her face. Cat jumped out of her chair when she noticed Robbie walk up.

"Did they find something?" Cat asked desperately.

"No, nothing yet, but they're gonna keep looking through the night." Robbie said as comfortingly as he could.

"Do they… do they think it's the Origami Killer?" she asked, her voice breaking at the end of her question.

Robbie averted his eyes, looking anywhere but at his ex-wife.

"I- it's still too early to say… but it is a possibility." Robbie admitted to Cat as well as to himself. Robbie closed his eyes, fearing Cat's reaction.

Cat's face transformed into an expression of utter despair. She paced the floor impatiently and buried her face in her hands.

"What happened, Robbie? How could you lose Shaun like that?" Cat asked, her tone quickly rising to a yell. "You should never have taken your eyes off him! I mean, for God's sake, how hard is it to keep your eye on a child in the park?! Why did you leave him, Robbie? Why?!" Cat was outright crying at this point. "Wasn't it enough losing Jason?!"

Robbie immediately turned away at that last remark, taking in a deep breath to stop himself from lashing out in anger.

Cat, immediately regretting what she had said, winced and sat back down in her chair.

"I'm sorry, Robbie… that's not what I meant to say." Cat apologised. "I just miss him so much." Cat buried her face in her hands and began to sob for her son. For both of her sons. For the life that was being ripped apart right in front of her.

Robbie turned and walked towards Cat, but Cat turned away and continued to cry with all her love as Robbie awkwardly stood in place, too heavy with guilt to even move to comfort the poor woman. To apologise for destroying the life that the two had built up together.

* * *

**Tuesday**

**9:52 pm**

**1.394 inches**

Beck pushed the door to the convenience store open and instantly heard the jingling of the metal bars hung in front of the door. He stepped inside, instantly relieved from the torrential rain that had come to be a common thing as of late.

"Good evening." he greeted the shopkeeper, who was checking the shelves behind the counter until Beck came in.

"Good evening to you, sir." the shopkeeper replied, turning back around to continue checking the shelves, but Beck continued to stand at the counter, watching. The shopkeeper quickly noticed this. "Can I help you, sir?" he asked.

"Well, I hope so. My name's Beck Oliver, I'm a private detective. I'm investigating the case of the Origami Killer. I'd like to ask you a few questions." Beck informed the man, who couldn't look Beck in the eye anymore.

"My son is dead, Mr Oliver. I have nothing more to say."

"But you may know something that could help save other people's lives!" Beck reasoned, but was interrupted by the shopkeeper.

"I was unable to save the life of my own son… I do not see how I could save the lives of other people." the shopkeeper argued, not looking up from the counter.

Beck sighed. "The killer has kidnapped another victim… a ten-year old boy. Like your son, Reza." Beck told the man, who finally looked up at the mention of his beloved son's name. "I have four days before we find his body on a deserted stretch of wasteland."

"No one did anything to save my son! Now, you would please… to move along sir." the shopkeeper dismissed him.

Beck nodded, defeatedly, and turned to leave the store, before remembering something.

"Oh, do you sell inhalers? I'm all out and at least I won't go away completely empty-handed." Beck asked politely.

"In the back of the store, to the right." the shopkeeper gestured.

"Thanks." Beck replied, heading off in the direction the shopkeeper pointed in.

_It's a pity he didn't want to talk… he might've known something…_

Beck quickly found the inhalers on the shelf and grabbed one of the small boxes, reading the text on the front.

That was when he heard the jingling of the door.

"Good evening, sir." Beck heard the shopkeeper greeting whoever entered the store.

No reply.

"Are you… looking for something in particular?" the shopkeeper asked.

Beck faintly heard the sound of a gun being loaded.

"Gimme' what you got in the register." the mysterious man ordered. "Don't fucking try anything!"

Beck crouched slightly, realising that the thug didn't know he was in the store.

"Open the register, you dumb fuck!" the thug demanded. "Put the money on the counter!"

Beck slowly began to move through the store as the thug continued to threaten the shopkeeper.

_He hasn't seen me yet… I've still got a chance…_

"Are you gonna open the register or not?"

"No, sir. You do not have the right to take that money from me." the shopkeeper argued.

"What did you say? You're outta your fuckin' mind, man! You don't get it, do you? I'm gonna put a fuckin' bullet right between your eyes if you don't do what I say… NOW!" the thug yelled.

Beck, slowly creeping up behind the thug, quietly grabbed a bottle of alcohol from one of the shelves and continued to slowly move towards the man…

Closer…

Closer…

Closer…

Thud.

Beck spun around, in a panic. A box of washing-up powder had fallen to the floor.

"FUCK!" the thug yelled in fright, quickly turning and pointing his gun at Beck. "Drop it… now!"

Beck followed the thug's order and dropped the bottle to the floor. The thug kept awkwardly switching his attention from Beck to the shopkeeper as Beck slowly inched his way towards the man, hands raised.

"Don't move! Hands up!" the thug yelled.

Beck raised his hands even higher, getting a real look at the thug for the first time.

He looked like he couldn't be any older than 25. His gun-wielding arm was shaking and his facial expression was a very terrified and overwhelmed one.

"So what are you gonna do, huh?" Beck asked, keeping his hands raised. "Someone could walk in the store any minute and sound the alarm. You haven't got a chance of getting out of this."

Breathing noticeably frantically, the man responded. "The first guy to walk in here gets it right in the face! Fuck it, man, you're making me nervous, and when I'm nervous, there's no knowin' what I'll do." he threatened unconvincingly.

"Don't panic, let's just stay calm. Nobody here wants to hurt you. Now we're all just gonna be cool… and everything'll be alright." Beck reasoned with the man, calmly.

"Yeah… yeah, I'm cool, man. Everything's gonna be all fuckin' right."

Deciding to push further, Beck continued to talk to the man, all the while inching closer and closer.

"My name's Beck. What about you, what's your name?" Beck asked.

"Andrew… my name's Andrew." the man answered.

"Do you have anyone you care for in your life? A girlfriend maybe… a family?"

"Yeah, a little girl… I got a little girl." Andrew told Beck, his voice breaking slightly at the end. "Her name's Jessica."

"What would Jessica think if she saw you here?" Beck asked, taking another tiny step forward. "Ask yourself… what would happen to her if things go wrong?"

Andrew took a hesitant step back from Beck, choosing not to answer the question.

Beck sighed. "Look, it's not worth it… put the gun down and just walk away." he suggested.

"You giving me advice? I'll give you some fuckin' advice!" Andrew warned him.

"You don't really want to shoot anybody, do you?" Beck asked, already knowing the answer. "I'm sure we can find a way out of this mess, right?"

Andrew slightly lowered the gun as Beck took another step forward, his hands gradually lowering. Andrew gave the door behind him a quick glance before turning back to Beck, the conflict showing in his eyes.

Slowly, Andrew lowered his gun and dropped it to the floor, pulled the door open and ran out into the rain.

The shopkeeper let out a huge sigh of relief and lowered his hands.

"A thousand thank-you's, sir… I don't know what would have happened if you had not been here." the shopkeeper thanked Beck.

"Well, at least I didn't come by here for nothing." Beck replied, smiling. "Have a nice day."

"When my boy Reza disappeared," the shopkeeper began, grabbing the attention of Beck, who was about to walk out of the store, "I received a letter with a locker ticket inside. Inside the locker I found this box." he said, pulling the box out from under the counter. It was small; barely bigger than a shoebox. "I do not understand what it means, but I think it must be a sort of message from the man who took my son from me."

Beck hesitated, staring at the box. "Umm, can I?" he asked out of politeness.

The shopkeeper pushed the box towards Beck. Beck opened the box and pulled out a small origami figure, in the shape of a lizard. Beck examined it, his curiosity peaked.

"Please… take the box if it can be of any use to you at all." the shopkeeper said, handing the box over. "It did not help me to save Reza… but maybe it will help you find the other little boy."

Beck smiled, taking the box and nodding to the shopkeeper before walking away and pulling the door open, letting the pitter-patter of the rain in.

"Mr Oliver?"

Beck turned back to the man.

"I was beginning to think that there was no good to be found in this place… but I can see now that I was wrong."

Beck didn't respond, instead slowly turning and leaving the store as the shopkeeper stared on almost in disbelief.


	6. The Insomniac

**Chapter 6! Let's do this! :)**

**Disclaimer: I do not own anything.**

* * *

**Wednesday**

**2:44 am**

**1.564 inches**

Tori Vega practically leaped up out of her nightmare, gasping in fright. She had fallen asleep on the couch again. Realising that it was just a nightmare, Tori sat herself upright, still gasping for breath and rubbing her eyes from exhaustion.

The loud static from the television almost drowned out the sound of the pouring rain outside the apartment. Tori leaned forward and grabbed the remote off of her coffee table, and turned the TV off. She then grabbed the watch sat next to her remote.

_2:44 am… always the same time…_

Tori rose from the couch and let out a huge yawn, stretching her arms behind her back, casting her eyes across her apartment.

It was relatively simply decorated. The marble floor and the brick interior walls gave the place a studio-esque feel to it, which made Tori feel right at home. The huge neon sign right outside of the kitchen window cast a pink glow on the area, adding a bit of character to the apartment.

Tori sighed in frustration.

_Goddamn insomnia… I'm totally exhausted but I just can't sleep!_

Tori exhaustedly walked to the kitchen area.

_Maybe if I try to stay busy, it'll help me get to sleep…_

Tori pulled her fridge open, the interior light shining in her face. She examined the contents for a moment before deciding against having a snack and shut the door again.

_A hot shower's what I need!_

Tori walked over to the bathroom and shut the door behind her, turning on the bathroom light.

Her bathroom was the kind you'd have at the local gym. The tiles were all a light green colour and the huge walk-through shower took up half of the room.

Tori walked over to the shower and stripped off her vest and her underwear. She entered the shower and turned the valve, releasing the hot streams of water which felt like heaven as they ran down her body.

After a couple of relaxing minutes, Tori stopped the shower and walked out, grabbing a towel and drying herself off. She stepped back into her clothes and left the bathroom, turning off the light on her way out.

_Hmm… maybe I'll go to bed and give the whole 'sleep' thing one last shot…_

Tori walked into her bedroom and flopped down on her luxurious, soft bed and slowly closed her eyes.

A noise hit Tori's ears.

Tori half-sat up, listening out and looking out for the source of the sound. Looking around and noticing nothing out of the ordinary in her apartment, Tori sat up on the side of her bed.

_I swear I heard something… good job, Tori – you're finally starting to lose it._

Realising she wasn't going to have much luck at getting back to sleep, Tori walked out into the study area and sat at her computer. She had just begun typing her password when she heard another noise. Gasping in fright, she turned around but still found nothing unusual.

Tori felt her heart beginning to beat harder. She slowly got back up out of her chair and walked back towards the couch. She pressed a button on her stereo and some relaxing music began to play, calming Tori's beating heart down.

Tori sat back down on the couch and buried her face in her hands as though it would magically send her to sleep. She rose back onto her feet, removing her hands from her face.

The fridge was open.

_Wha…? How did the fridge just open like that? Phew, get it together, girl… you probably just left it open by adcident._

Tori carefully crept towards the fridge, as though she suspected a bomb was hidden inside it.

_This is seriously starting to scare me now._

Tori hesitantly closed the fridge door, glancing inside, expecting to find something strange inside it.

A shuffling noise came from behind her.

Tori spun around in terror, catching the moving shadow in the corner of her eye. With her heart pounding out of her chest, Tori took a step towards where she saw the shadow. That's when the lights suddenly went out. Tori gasped in shock, suddenly feeling completely defenceless, alone in the dark, barely-clothed and about to collapse from exhaustion.

The shadow ran across her vision again. It was definitely a person.

_Someone's in the apartment! Oh god oh god oh god…_

Tori, almost hyperventilating at this point, crouched and hid herself behind the fridge, glancing around for a way to escape.

_The phone on the desk! I could call for help…_

Tori looked to her right.

_The front door… it's the only way out! If I can reach it, I still have a chance…_

Making her move, Tori ran across the apartment towards the front door, slamming herself into it. She grabbed the handle and pulled in a panic.

It was locked.

Tori glanced behind her. The shadow was getting closer. Panicking now, Tori desperately tugged at the handle as though she intended to pull the door off of its hinges.

She felt someone grab her hair and pull her back. Tori screamed as she struggled to escape the grip of the intruder, swinging herself around and kicking against the wall to send the two tumbling backwards into the adjacent wall. The impact loosened the man's grip and Tori sprung free, tipping a ladder that leant against the wall over as the man tried to run at her. He tripped over it.

Tori watched, unsure of what to do as the man rose back to his feet. Just then, she felt another pair of hands grab her ankle and force her to the ground, dragging her through the apartment. Tori fought and fought but couldn't find an opportunity to escape as the attacker continued to drag her across her home. He pulled her up off of the ground and threw her onto the counter, sending all of the pots, pans and other kitchen utensils flying all over the place.

The attacker pulled a knife out of his belt. It glistened and reflected the light of the neon sign outside the window. Tori felt a cold shiver run down her spine, convincing her that this was the end.

The man lunged at her but Tori retaliated by grabbing his wrists, using all her strength merely to stop the man from gutting her like a pig. In a split-second, Tori grabbed the butter knife that lay next to her and jabbed it into her attacker's shoulder. The man screamed in pain, dropping his knife.

Tori ran away from him but the other intruder charged at her, grabbing her waist and throwing her down onto the dining table. He pulled out his knife and stabbed at Tori, who rolled out of the way. Her attacker stabbed at her again, but Tori again managed to roll out of the way, elbowing the intruder in the face and trying to scurry off of the table. A third pair of hands covered Tori's face, but she kicked as hard as she could overhead and felt her foot impact on the man's face, knocking him back in pain.

Tori jumped off of the table and turned, grabbing a chair and throwing it at the attacker who had just jumped onto the table to grab her again. The chair hit him dead on and knocked him off of the table. Tori turned tail and rain back towards her bedroom, but screamed when one of the intruders appeared in front of her. Turning to run back the way she had come, she found that she was surrounded by the men.

Unsure of what to do, Tori charged right into the man in front of her, who grabbed her shoulders and slammed her into the glass pane separating her bedroom from the rest of the apartment. The man trying to spin Tori around and slam her into the apartment window but she resisted, yelling for help and writhing around in his grip in a desperate attempt to break free.

Finally coming up with an idea, Tori leaned in and bit the man's neck as hard as she could. Screaming out in pain, the attacker released Tori, who ran into her bedroom as fast as she could, ending up face-to-face with another intruder.

He grabbed Tori, lifted her over his shoulder and forcefully threw her down onto the bed, the force of the impact on the mattress bouncing her up slightly. Desperately kicking at the man, she managed to knock him back long enough to allow her to stand up on her bed and leap at him, wrapping her legs around him and forcing him backwards with all of her weight. The man smashed through one of the glass panes and fell down to the ground. Tori clambered off of him and ran back towards the front door, pushing her television over in a futile attempt to slow her pursuer down.

Feeling the attacker's presence directly behind her, Tori spun herself around just as his grabbed her shoulders, knocking him down onto the couch. Turning to run away, Tori was slapped in the face roughly by yet another attacker. She fell to the ground, attempting to use the coffee table to support her as she fell, but the other attacker got off of the couch and grabbed her head, slamming it into the corner of the coffee table.

Crying out in pain, Tori could only watch as the first attacker slapped her face again, forcing her back down to the ground. They pulled out their knives again. Thinking fast, Tori grabbed a piece of wood that had been broken off of the coffee table during the fight and stabbed one the closest intruder in the leg as hard as she could, eliciting an agonising scream from him. He dropped his knife, which Tori quickly grabbed, stabbing the other attacker in the inner thigh.

Pushing herself back up to her feet, Tori felt one last adrenaline rush as she sprinted towards the bathroom, evading a last-ditch effort to grab her ankles and slamming the bathroom door shut behind her and locking it. Tori stared at it intensely, panting in exhaustion and relief. She could hear her heart thudding as she slowly backed away from the door.

Her heart skipped a beat when a gloved hand covered her mouth and pulled her backwards. Tori saw the knife in the corner of her vision and closed her eyes, preparing for her eternal sleep as the attacker slit the knife across her throat…

Tori practically leaped up out of her nightmare, gasping in fright. She had fallen asleep on the couch again. Realising that it was just a nightmare, Tori sat herself upright, still gasping for breath and rubbing her eyes from exhaustion as the rain continued to fall outside, drowned out by the loud static of the flickering television.

* * *

**Wednesday**

**7:31 am**

**1.700 inches**

Robbie Shapiro's front door was crowded with journalists and reporters, all waiting anxiously for the poor father to share a few words with them.

Robbie sat at his kitchen table, his face buried in his arms as he refused to even acknowledge the living, breathing world co-existing around him. Sighing sadly, Robbie lifted his face up and looked up at the ceiling, unsure of what to think.

The envelope.

Robbie had placed the envelope on the kitchen table next to him. Grabbing it and pulling it towards him, Robbie re-opened it and read the strange message again.

_When the parents came home from church, all their children were gone._

_They searched and called for them, they cried and begged, but it was all to no avail._

_The children have never been seen again._

Setting the message down, Robbie tipped the envelope upside-down, checking for any other contents. Out dropped a locker ticket. The picture on the ticket looked like the silhouette of an angel. Recognising the location of the picture, Robbie pocketed the ticket and got up from the table for the first time in about 10 hours.

_I have to get out of here and find out what this ticket is about._

Not wanting to confront the hordes of people outside his front door, Robbie crept out the back way and hopped over his garden fence, walking across his neighbour's nicely-trimmed garden and down the alleyway at the side of her house.

_That letter… someone sent it to me for a reason…_

Robbie contemplated who could have possibly sent the letter as he quickly jumped in his car and drove away, avoiding the journalists who were attempting to follow him like lost puppies.

_Something's going on here… and I'm gonna get to the bottom of it._


End file.
